Don’t paint New Orleans Saints finished just yet

Sunday

Nov 18, 2012 at 6:00 AM

The New Orleans Saints are still in a hole, but they are also on a roll. After absorbing a direct hit from Bountygate — a scandal that still hasn’t subsided — during a tumultuous offseason, the Saints opened the year with four consecutive losses. They fell to the Redskins and Panthers by eight points apiece, the Chiefs by three in overtime, and the Packers by one in Green Bay.

By Rich Garven TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

The New Orleans Saints are still in a hole, but they are also on a roll.

After absorbing a direct hit from Bountygate — a scandal that still hasn’t subsided — during a tumultuous offseason, the Saints opened the year with four consecutive losses. They fell to the Redskins and Panthers by eight points apiece, the Chiefs by three in overtime, and the Packers by one in Green Bay.

“In reality, there’s just a little bit of difference between winning and losing in the NFL,” said Saints tight ends coach Terry Malone, who captained the Holy Cross football team as a senior and graduated in 1983 with a degree in history.

“For some reason, getting out of the blocks we did not have all the key ingredients, all the things we needed to get a couple of wins that we really needed. But our guys kept playing, our guys kept preparing every week as if this was the most important game of the year. I think that work has come to pay off.”

The Saints have rallied to claim victories in four of the past five games, the latest being a 31-27 decision over the previously undefeated Atlanta Falcons in New Orleans.

Now 4-5, they’ll meet the perpetually reeling Raiders (3-6) today in Oakland in a game no one in New Orleans is taking lightly, even if the rest of the country sees this as a monumental mismatch.

“Well, we understand that it’s a weekly test that we have,” Malone said. “It’s not something where you can count on what you did last week helping you with this game. So we’re going to have to continue to prepare and put all the energy we have into this game.

“And, quite frankly, we haven’t been real successful going out west and playing, so it’s a challenge not only for the team we’re playing but because of the travel.”

There’s no single reason for the Saints’ turnaround, but there are two areas they’ve shown improvement in.

The run game has come on behind the foursome of Pierre Thomas, Mark Ingram, Chris Ivory and Darren Sproles.

Ivory sat out the first five games due to injury, but has been active for the last two and turned 17 carries into 120 yards (7.1 average) and two touchdowns.

It’s allowed the Saints to play complementary football and keep the opposition guessing while preserving the right arm of quarterback Drew Brees.

“We’ve always wanted to be a balanced football team,” Malone said, “but sometimes games get to the point where you can’t be balanced and you have to continue to throw it if you’re down on the scoreboard, like we were in the first month of the season.

“Yet we were constantly working on the run game. We have good running backs, we have an outstanding offensive line. It just makes people pay attention to the run game and be a lot more balanced in their defensive looks, and that’s an advantage in all aspects.”

Defensively, the Saints rank 31st in the league against both the pass and the run. They’re last in the NFC and 28th in the NFL in points allowed with a 28.4 average.

The Saints are allowing 469.3 yards a game. That’s nearly 50 yards more than any team in the league this year and nearly 60 yards more than any team has allowed in the last 10 years.

The numbers are so bad, there’s no way for them to improve appreciably this year. Yet the Saints have shown signs of getting better under first-year defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo of Grafton.

The most recent example came in that huge NFC South win at Atlanta. The Saints made a pair of goal-line stands in the fourth quarter, limiting the Falcons to three points to send them to their first loss.

“If you looked at last week’s tape, you’d say, ‘Hey, we have an awfully good defense,’ ” Malone said “The way they were able to keep Atlanta out of the end zone in the fourth quarter was just awesome.

“I think it’s a process. Steve is putting in his defense, and it just doesn’t happen overnight, and with all the things our team has gone through distraction-wise, he’s done a remarkable job of getting these guys to where we are today. And we really feel very good about making a run from here on out.”

It’s not going to be easy.

Every team in the league is good enough to win on any given Sunday (or Monday or Thursday). The Saints, though, are about to face a slew of teams who are having really good seasons.

After Oakland, they have a four-game run against the 49ers (6-2-1), Falcons (8-1), Giants (6-4) and Buccaneers (5-4). They finish up against the Cowboys (4-5) and Panthers (2-7).

That daunting slate hasn’t kept some of Malone’s friends from his days at Holy Cross from dropping the occasional text and mentioning the possibility of the Patriots and Saints meeting in Super Bowl XLVII on Feb. 3, which will held in New Orleans.

“It just seems so far away from where we’re at,” Malone said with a laugh after pointing out he didn’t realize until the other day that Thanksgiving is next week. “But if things work out, that would be awesome.”